Abolitionist Teaching

Network Presents

Guide for
Racial Justice &
Abolitionist Social
and Emotional
Learning
August 2020
 Abolitionist Teaching Network's
mission is simple: develop and
support educators to fight injustice
within their schools and communities.

This guide builds from the premise that injustice

manifests differently in different schools and
communities.

Abolitionist Teaching cannot be distilled to a list of “best

practices” because it is a way of life.

Abolitionist Teachers believe that no Black, Brown, or

Indigenous child is disposable. We must embody the spirit
of Black Lives Mattering, not just say Black Lives Matter.

This guide is an invitation for Abolitionist Teachers to

individually and collectively generate critical reflection and
action.

Abolitionist Teachers will always center the injustices of

their own school and community when taking action.

There will always be risks associated with fighting

injustices in our schools and communities. This is why
Abolitionist work requires solidarity from coconspirators.

Abolitionist Teaching promotes justice, healing, joy, and

liberation for all Black, Brown, and Indigenous folx,
inclusive of all intersecting identities.

Don’t be basic.
 What is an Abolitionist approach to
social and emotional learning (SEL)?

SEL can be a covert form of policing used to

punish, criminalize, and control Black, Brown, and
Indigenous children and communities to adhere to
White norms (Kaler-Jones, 2020).

Most SEL standards are rooted in Eurocentric

norms, not to empower, love, affirm, or free Black,
Brown, or Indigenous children.

The practice of Abolitionist SEL is critical, healing

centered, reciprocal in nature, culturally
responsive, transformative, and dialogical.

Abolitionist SEL models center vulnerability,

healing, joy, and community, resist punitive or
disciplinary approaches, and do not involve school
resource officers or police.

Integrate Abolitionist SEL into curriculum, daily

personal/classroom rituals, restorative justice
circles, and racial justice initiatives.

Abolitionist SEL is not an isolated lesson. It is a

way of being that informs all aspects of teaching,
learning, and relationship building with students,
families, and communities.
 Ways to engage with colleagues in the
pursuit of Abolitionist SEL

Learn about the beauty, joy, and resilience of

Black, Brown, and Indigenous folx and the
complexity of the African diaspora (because not
all Black folx are African American).

Cultivate an ongoing personal practice of learning

prior to and after engaging in critical
conversations with colleagues and students.

Investigate how existing SEL frameworks are

weaponized against Black, Brown, and Indigenous
children and communities.

Work with administrators to remove and replace

models which harm Black, Brown, and Indigenous
children.

Partner with and compensate community

members to develop and implement Abolitionist
SEL models.

Advocate for or create ongoing humanizing

professional development to support school-wide
Abolitionist practices that affirm the inherent
worth of Black, Brown, and Indigenous children
and communities.
How should Abolitionist Teachers guide
students toward Abolitionist SEL?
Create classrooms that center the beauty, joy,
resiliency, and variety of Black, Brown, and
Indigenous experiences.

Remove all punitive or disciplinary practices that

spirit murder Black, Brown, and Indigenous
children.

Cultivate relationships and community by

consistently reflecting on and honoring students’
full humanity.

Integrate Abolitionist SEL rituals and routines

that welcome the full range of emotions and
provide tools to support students in processing
and asking for support.

Support students in embedding Abolitionist SEL

practices in relationships with their peers,
families, and their communities.

Build a school culture that engages in healing

and advocacy. This requires a commitment to
learning from students, families, and educators
who disrupt Whiteness and other forms of
oppression.
 An Abolitionist Teacher’s Demands

Hiring and Support:

● Hire, support, and retain Black, Brown, and
Indigenous teachers, paraprofessionals, school
counselors, and other personnel
● Hire, support, retain, and develop Abolitionist
educators
● Invest in ongoing critical professional
development to support and deepen Abolitionist
Teaching practices
● Free, radical self/collective care and therapy for
Educators and Support Staff of Color
● Free, antiracist therapy for White educators and
support staff
● Community involvement in hiring and/or holding
administrators accountable for sharing in the
responsibility and support of Abolitionist Teaching
with time and resources
● School boards that reflect or exceed the diversity
of the student population and community
● Equitable funding at the local, state, and federal
levels
● Reduce class sizes so that Black, Brown, and
Indigenous children can thrive
 An Abolitionist Teacher’s Demands

Discipline:
● School-wide culture committed to restorative
justice for all members of the school community
● Remove any and all police and policing from
schools
● Address how policing practices show up in our
own work, even when police are not present in our
schools
● Tear down schools that were built like prisons
● Invest in state-of-the-art green school facilities
that are worthy of Black, Brown, and Indigenous
children
● Reparations for Children of Color stolen by the
school-to-prison pipeline

Evaluation:
● Curriculum that reflects People of Color and their
contributions, humanity, and joy
● End high-stakes standardized testing
● Teaching standards, learning standards, and
teacher evaluations that are grounded in the
pursuit of Black, Brown, and Indigenous liberation,
criticality, excellence, and joy (Muhammad, 2020)
● Opportunities for teachers, students, and families
to evaluate support offered by school
Six Questions Abolitionist Teachers
Can Ask to Build Relationships
with Students
1. What can you tell me that helps me better
understand you as a person?

2. How can I be the best teacher for you?

3. How can your school be a place where you

feel seen, valued, and excited to learn?

4. What matters most to you (i.e., in life, at

school, in your community)?

5. How can I support you mentally, emotionally,

and in your community?

6. What is your love language (see resources for

more info)?
 Seven Questions Abolitionist
Teachers Can Ask Administrators

1. How will we embody the spirit and goals of Black

Lives Mattering in everything we do as a school?

2. What long-term antiracist professional

development will we implement for all faculty and
staff?

3. How will we implement antiracist curriculum that

centers the beauty, joy, and resiliency of Black,
Brown, and Indigenous people? How will we also
learn and teach about the African diaspora?

4. What school policies can we eliminate that are

harmful or oppressive to our students of color?
How can we replace them with healing centered
policies?

5. What administrative actions are we implementing

to ensure teachers feel supported to practice
Abolitionist Teaching?

These final two questions are particularly relevant to

the COVID-19 global pandemic:

6. What supports are in place to ensure students

and families are socially, emotionally, and
materially supported during virtual learning?

7. What plans are in place to promote faculty and

staff wellness during and after COVID-19?
 Resources for Understanding
Racial Justice and SEL

Teaching to Thrive: A Conversation with SEL Expert

Rosalynne Duff About Racial Justice & SEL (Abolitionist
Teaching Network Podcast)

When SEL is Used as Another Form of Policing (Cierra

Kaler-Jones)

The Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice: Black

Lives, Healing and US Social Transformation (Fania E.
Davis)

Why We Can’t Afford to Whitewash Social Emotional

Learning (Dena Simmons)

(At Least) 10 Things Educators Can Do to End the Prison

Industrial Complex (Chrissy Anderson-Zavala, Farima
Pour-Khorshid and Erica R. Meiners)

Teaching For Black Lives Book (edited By Dyan Watson,

Jesse Hagopian, & Wayne Au)

How to Be an Anti-Racist Educator (by Dena Simmons)

Love Language Test for Students (by Gary Chapman)

Teachers 4 Social Justice: 2020 Resources for

Abolitionist Teaching and Solidarity in These Times (by
Teachers 4 Social Justice)
An Abolitionist’s Teachers Resources

Abolitionist Teaching and the Future of Our Schools

(Bettina Love, Gholdy Muhammad, Dena Simmons and
Brian Jones)

Repurposing Our Pedagogies (Stephanie Cariaga, Bettina

Love, Sagnicthe Salazar, Carla Shalaby, Marylin Zuniga,
Farima Pour-Khorshid, and Chrissy A. Z. Hernandez

Dear White Teachers: You Can't Love Your Black

Students If You Don't Know Them (Bettina Love)

Shifting From Trauma Informed Care to Healing Centered

Engagement (Shawn Ginwright)

Black Lives Matter at School (Black Lives Matter at

School)

The Abolitionist Toolkit (Critical Resistance)

Abolitionist Organizations:
Assata's Daughters
Black Organizing Project
Black Youth Project 100
Critical Resistance
Education for Liberation Network
Quetzal Education Consulting
Teachers 4 Social Justice
 Resource developed by
Abolitionist Teaching
Network

Network

Donations can be made at

https://abolitionistteachingnetwork.org